Titus O'Neil

Thaddeus Michael Bullard Sr. (born April 29, 1977) is an American professional wrestler and retired professional football player. He is currently signed to WWE under the ring name Titus O'Neil. Bullard played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played professionally in the Arena Football League (AFL). Bullard's career as a professional wrestler began when he was part of the second season of NXT, and also competed in the show's fifth season, NXT Redemption.

Background

Thaddeus Bullard was born in Boynton Beach, Florida. He grew up in Live Oak, Florida, where he attended Suwannee High School. He was a standout player for the Suwannee Bulldogs high school football, and was recognized by USA Today, SuperPrep, and Parade magazine as a high school All-American as a senior in 1995.

Football career

Bullard accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, and played for coach Steve Spurrier's Florida Gators football team from 1997 to 2000. He redshirted during the Gators' 1996 national championship season. Bullard lettered the next four seasons, playing in forty-four regular season games with three starts. He was elected student body vice president in April 2000, and graduated in August 2000. While he was an undergraduate, he was initiated as a brother of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (often shortened to TMNT or Ninja Turtles) are four fictional teenage anthropomorphic turtles who are named after four Renaissance Italian artists. They were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu. From their home in sewers of New York City, they battle petty criminals, evil overlords, mutated creatures, and alien invaders while attempting to remain hidden from society. They were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.

The characters originated in comic books published by Mirage Studios before expanding into cartoon series, films, video games, toys, and other general merchandise. During the peak of the franchise's popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it gained considerable worldwide success and fame.

History

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first appeared in an American comic book published by Mirage Studios in 1984 in Dover, New Hampshire. The concept arose from a humorous drawing sketched out by Eastman during a casual evening of brainstorming and bad television with Laird. Using money from a tax refund, together with a loan from Eastman’s uncle, the young artists self-published a single-issue comic intended to parody four of the most popular comics of the early 1980s: Marvel Comics’ Daredevil and New Mutants, Dave Sim’s Cerebus, and Frank Miller’s Ronin. The TMNT comic series has been published in various incarnations by various comic book companies since 1984.

WWE

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (d/b/a WWE) is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company that deals primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing and direct product sales. WWE also refers to the professional wrestling promotion itself, founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1952 as Capitol Wrestling Corporation. As of 2014, it is the largest wrestling promotion in the world, holding over 300 events a year, and broadcasting to about 36 million viewers in more than 150 countries. The company's headquarters are located in Stamford, Connecticut, with offices in major cities across the world.

As in other professional wrestling promotions, WWE shows are not legitimate contests, but purely entertainment-based, featuring storyline-driven, scripted, and choreographed matches, though they often include moves that can put performers at risk of injury if not performed correctly. This was first publicly acknowledged by WWE's owner Vince McMahon in 1989 to avoid taxes from athletic commissions. Since the 1980s, WWE publicly branded their product as sports entertainment, which is considered to acknowledge the product's roots in competitive sport and dramatic theater.

O'Neill dynasty

The O'Neill dynasty (Irish: Ó Néill) is a group of families, ultimately all of Irish Gaelic origin, that have held prominent positions and titles in Ireland and elsewhere. As Chiefs of Cenél nEógain, they are historically the most prominent family of the Northern Uí Néill, along with the O'Donnell and O'Doherty. The O'Neills hold that their ancestors were Kings of Ailech during the Early Middle Ages, as descendants of Niall of the Nine Hostages.

A number of their progenitors and members are named as High Kings of Ireland, such as Niall Glúndub (from whom they take their name) and Domnall ua Néill. From 1185 until 1616, the O'Neills were sovereign Kings of Tír Eógain, holding territories in the north of Ireland; particularly around what is today County Tyrone. After their realm was merged with the Kingdom of Ireland and the land was caught up in the Plantation of Ulster, they were involved in a number of significant events, such as Tyrone's Rebellion, the Flight of the Earls, the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the Irish Confederate Wars.